Alzheimer's Care: The Caregiver's Guide to Understanding Alzheimer's Disease & Best Practices to Care for People with Alzheimer's & Dementia

Summary

Alzheimer's disease affects about 13 percent of individuals over the age of 65 and about 50 percent of those over the age of 85. Almost 15 million Americans spend their time caring for a person with Alzheimer’s dementia. If your love one suffers from this condition or starts to show early warning signs, you are probably very concerned and worried. You want the best for your family, and would do anything to help your loved one and your family cope as best as possible through this life changing situation.

You are probably wondering:

- How much time do you have before the condition would drastically impact and change your love one's life?

- How long would it be before your love one forgets who you are?- Would he/she still be able to live on his/her own? Or is full-time care needed?

- Will your love one die earlier than normal due to the Alzheimer's?

"Alzheimer's Care" can help. It will teach you everything you need to know about the signs & symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, how to deal with your emotions, family life, caregiving, and more.

Here are just some of the things you will discover in this book:

- What are the early signs of Alzheimer's dementia?- What are the 7 stages of Alzheimer's disease?- Important safety issues in the care of Alzheimer's patients.- How to help Alzheimer's patient keep their memories for as long as possible?- What are the feeding & nutrition requirements for someone with Alzheimer's?- How to make eating pleasurable?- Ways to minimize the stress and frustration of family members.

- Questions you must ask before selecting a nursing home for long-term care facility for your love one.- Simple techniques for communicating with Alzheimer's patient without getting frustrated.- How to effectively deal with behavioral problems?- How to improve the quality of life for your loved one?- How to take care of yourself, reduce stress, & prevent burn-out as a caregiver?- And much more...

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Alzheimer's Care - Nancy J. Wiles

Introduction

Alzheimer’s disease is a common, irreversible brain disease that progressively destroys one’s ability to remember and think clearly so that simple tasks become difficult or impossible to do. The usual onset of Alzheimer’s dementia is about age 60. It is the most common dementia among the aged.

Dementia of any kind involves the loss of cognitive abilities so that thinking, reasoning, personality and remembering become impaired. It interferes with daily activities and the ability to take care for oneself. Dementia can be extremely mild and interfere with memory only or can be so severe that the individual needs help with even the most basic of needs like eating and toileting.

In 1906, Dr. Alois Alzheimer had a female patient who had memory problems, language difficulties and problems with behavior. He examined her brain after her death and noted what we now call amyloid plaques, which were abnormal clumps of tissue, and neurofibrillary tangles, which were tangled bundles of fibers. These are the major brain features of Alzheimer’s dementia. In addition to these features, the brain loses its connections between the various nerve fibers.

No one knows exactly what triggers Alzheimer’s disease to begin. We do know that evidence for the disease in the elderly can be seen up to ten years before symptoms begin. Changes are taking place in the brain even as the person continues to function normally. When the neurons become affected, the brain doesn’t function as well as it used to.

When the hippocampus becomes affected by Alzheimer’s disease, the person becomes unable to form new memories and recent memory becomes seriously impaired. The brain then begins to shrink and, over time, the damage becomes widespread throughout the brain.

Statistics on Alzheimer’s Disease

More than 5 million US citizens have Alzheimer’s disease today and, in the absence of a cure or prevention, the number will likely increase to between 11 million and 16 million by the year 2050. It affects about 13 percent of individuals over the age of 65 and about 50 percent of those over the age of 85. Almost 15 million Americans spend their time caring for a person with Alzheimer’s dementia.

Between the years 2000 and 2006, the deaths related to stroke, prostate cancer and heart decreased by about 12-18 percent; however, the death rate of Alzheimer’s disease patients has increased by about 66 percent.

The Science of Alzheimer’s Disease

Researchers have been doing studies on the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease in an attempt to understand plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and other things found in the disease. They can now identify these brain structures in living people, especially the beta-amyloid deposits. They are trying to understand the basis behind getting these brain changes. They want to know what exactly causes the disease.

Researchers are trying to figure out why mostly older adults are affected by Alzheimer’s disease. They are looking at the normal changes that occur in the aging brain and how this differs from abnormal changes. They believe that normal age-related alterations in the brain can actually do harm to the brain so that Alzheimer’s can develop. Normal age-related changes include shrinking of the brain, brain inflammation, and the formation of free radicals, unstable molecules that do damage to cells. The mitochondria may also be affected and be unable to make the proper amount of energy for brain cells.

Researchers are also studying early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, which is rare but believed to be hereditary. People get this form of the disease between 30 and 60 years of age; they represent only about 5 percent of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease. It is a familial form of the disease, inherited from at least one parent.

Most people, on the other hand, have late onset Alzheimer’s dementia and it starts at around 60 years of age. Many researchers have connected the APOE gene or apolipoprotein gene that comes in 4 forms. Apolipoprotein E4 appears to be connected to getting Alzheimer’s disease. Interestingly, if you have this form of the gene, you don’t necessarily get the disease. Experts believe you need more than one gene to cause late onset Alzheimer’s disease and that APOE E4 is just one of them.

Other researchers are looking into lifestyle factors and how they play a role in getting Alzheimer’s dementia. It seems to be related to the same things that give you stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. They are trying to understand the interrelationships between these diseases and dementia. A nutritious diet seems to help as well as good social environments, excellence in mental pursuits and plenty of physical activity. Researchers are studying these factors as they relate to Alzheimer’s dementia as we speak.

Summary

Alzheimer’s dementia is relatively common as brain diseases go and, as the nation’s population ages, there will be more people with the disease, even double or more. Alzheimer’s dementia affects thinking, memory, and behavior so that the severe Alzheimer’s patient needs help with most, if not all, activities of daily living. It is up to the caregiver to do these things for the affected patient and to help them do as much as they can by themselves or with assistance.

In the next chapter, we’ll talk more about the causes of Alzheimer’s disease so you can see the science behind the person who suffers from the disease.

Chapter 1: Causes of Alzheimer’s Disease

In truth, no one knows the exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease but they do know it results from a mixture of lifestyle habits, genetic factors and environmental concerns that, over time, affect the brain.

It is caused solely by genetic factors less than five percent of the time. More likely, the disease is caused by changes in the genetic profile that predisposes someone to develop the disease. Early onset Alzheimer’s disease is the only aspect of the disease that is more than likely to be completely hereditary.

Regardless of the cause, researchers do know that Alzheimer’s disease does damage to and kills brain cells. Autopsies show that patients with Alzheimer’s disease have fewer brain cells and fewer connections between brain cells than people without the disease. As the brain cells die, the patients have a significantly smaller brain due to shrinkage.